diff --git a/src/share/classes/java/nio/file/FileTreeWalker.java b/src/share/classes/java/nio/file/FileTreeWalker.java
index 6e1a83ff16f2d7a60061607050a9d68c64e17cf0..7b1f43fe4ac02b8650506fd7927571da0f33e7fa 100644
--- a/src/share/classes/java/nio/file/FileTreeWalker.java
+++ b/src/share/classes/java/nio/file/FileTreeWalker.java
@@ -92,7 +92,7 @@ class FileTreeWalker {
             (System.getSecurityManager() == null))
         {
             BasicFileAttributes cached = ((BasicFileAttributesHolder)file).get();
-            if (!followLinks || !cached.isSymbolicLink())
+            if (cached != null && (!followLinks || !cached.isSymbolicLink()))
                 attrs = cached;
         }
         IOException exc = null;